


A Toast

by veinvessel



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater, Trc - Fandom
Genre: F/M, M/M, im sorry, it's angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2017-02-10
Packaged: 2018-09-23 09:59:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9650705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/veinvessel/pseuds/veinvessel
Summary: based on a prompt i got on tumblr asking me to write a story including a) fireworks b) a broken clock and c) a toast.





	

**Author's Note:**

> i posted this on my tumblr but i also felt the need to post it mainly cos tumblr kind of weirds me out for posting writing, if you want to reblog it there you can do so here (http://exyreferee.tumblr.com/post/157042212305/for-the-writing-thing-4).  
> the original post with the prompts can be found here (http://sparkingstoryinspiration.tumblr.com/post/155132044557/write-a-story-including-a-set-of-three-things).
> 
> thanks.

Red. White. Blue.

 

A whistling squeal. _Bang_.

 

The screeching fourth of July fireworks going off somewhere in the distance set the background music to the small party happening at the Barns. Adam had come down from university, and Gansey, Blue and Henry had driven into town the day before. They were all currently sitting on the floor of Ronan’s childhood home, regaling each other with tales of the events that had transpired in their time apart. They were all as they should be, Ronan and Adam sitting close together, shoulder to shoulder, elbows on each others thighs, Blue sprawled out over Gansey and Henry’s laps.

 

“And then, Henry _booked_ it! That guy chased him for like a _mile_ , it was absolutely insane!” Blue, hands gesticulating wildly, was retelling some story at poor Henry’s expense.

“It definitely wasn’t a mile; Cheng can’t even run in place for five minutes without wheezing.” Ronan cut in.

“You’ve never even seen me run in place, Lynch.”

“We had gym together freshman year.”

“We-oh we did. Well, I’m no-”

“Hey! _can I finish my story?”_ Blue yelled irritatedly.

Henry got slapped in the face by Blue’s angrily flying hand.

Adam and Gansey had to laugh at that. As their eyes met from across the room, their laughter subsided into twin fond smiles. It had been a while since they had all been together like this. The fourth was a holiday they definitely could’ve avoided seeing each other on, for fear of rehashing worse days, but instead, they chose to be together. Together. That was the way it had been for a long time for this group of teenagers. A year apart didn’t mean anything when these kids had been destined to be together since the birth of the stars. Every event in all of time had led to their friendship and every event in all of time would be affected by their friendship. They had been together once, as they always had been and always would be.

But that’s a matter of mysticism.

Back to the party.

 

-

Ronan and Opal were having a chewing contest.

Opal had a cracked clock Ronan had pulled out of a dream once, and Ronan had a metal picture frame.

“You’re never gonna beat her.” Blue laughed.

“My money’s on the dream girl.” Henry concurred.

“Ronan, please stop biting a picture frame.” Gansey pleaded.

“I’m not kissing you if you’ve got a mouth full of broken teeth.” Adam stated.

Ronan forfeited the competition.

 

-

Later on, around three am, the whole gang had gathered on one of the lush fields that made up the Lynch estate, with a bottle of nonalcoholic cider and mismatched dream cups from the kitchen cabinets. It was the final event of the night, and the next morning everyone except Ronan would leave Henrietta again. It was Adam’s idea to have a toast to “friendship…or something.” and Ronan’s idea to make the toast in the middle of a field in the dead of night. As Henry and Blue finally crested the small hill the rest of the group had long been standing on, arm in arm, the night air surrounding them all began to feel charged. Ronan, holding the bottle of cider, poured some into all of their glasses. For a moment, they all stood there on the hill, silent. Everything that had happened the year before began to swirl in the air around them. Everyone that they had lost, everyone that they had gained, all of their deeds, righteous or not, started to weigh down on them. They were friends who had everything to say to each other, but in this moment, nobody could get anything out. The night had been lighthearted before, but in this moment, underneath the stars and the humid air pressing them down into the earth, making them all feel smaller than they were, they could feel the undercurrent of grief that always remained begin to consume them. Henrietta was home, but bad memories would always nag at the edges of their minds when they thought of the rolling hills and the rising fog. In this moment, they allowed themselves to remember everything, to feel everything.

Henry was the one who finally broke the silence, one arm raising his glass towards the clear night sky, the other still intertwined with Blue’s.

 

“To kings.” Henry said, looking at Gansey.

 

“To princes.” Gansey said, looking at Henry.

 

“To dreamers.” Adam said, looking at Ronan.

 

“To magicians.” Ronan said, looking at Adam.

 

They all looked at Blue, waiting for her toast. She was looking up at the sky, head tilted back, hair falling out of it’s clips and pins, drinking in all the stars. Tears were falling silently from her eyes, sliding down her face, catching underneath her chin.

 

“To boys who were enough. Even when they were dead.”

 

A firework went off in the distance.

 


End file.
